Plus, will SCOTUS overturn one of its most reviled decisions? | View in browser
Institute for Justice updates
Zoning Abuse
Zoning Insanity: Florida County Tried to Shut Down Community Garden
Leann Barber spent eight years planting 500 fruit trees, vegetables, and native plants to turn her Broward County property into a community garden that serves neighborhood kids. Turning a vacant lot into an urban oasis seems like a wonderful idea, right? Not according to Broward County, Florida, officials. But Leann defended her community garden using a right-to-garden law IJ helped pass.
Supreme Court Will Consider Hearing Eminent Domain Case on Friday
This Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear a case with the potential to overturn one of the most reviled decisions in recent decades: Kelo v. New London. IJ appealed the case of Bryan Bowers, a New York landowner whose property was seized by a government agency to provide private parking for a nearby private office building.
Utah Will Require Parental Consent Before Retaining Babies’ Blood
Last week, Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill into law that requires the state Department of Health and Human Services to obtain parental consent before retaining any blood drawn from newborns in the state. Utah, like all states, tests the blood of newborns for rare diseases, but prior to this reform, Utah would keep those samples in a database, without parental consent, for seven years. IJ, which has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of New Jersey over its blood retention policies, supported the bill in Utah.
Beyond the Brief: Excessive Fine—$100k for Parking on Your Grass
$29,000 for overgrown grass. $16,000 for cracks in the driveway. $100,000 for parking incorrectly on your own property. These are some of the outrageous fines IJ’s clients have faced. The prohibition on excessive fines is one of our oldest rights, but governments still issue ruinous fines and courts still rubberstamp these fines.
Often in old constitutional cases judges invoke this mysterious substance called “the police power.” It’s something that has fallen out of a lot of our constitutional conversations, and unfortunately when it’s remembered today it’s often taken to mean “the government can do whatever it wants.” We take an episode to try and set things straight.
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